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27 By faith he (Moses) forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. 29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned. ~ Hebrews 11:27-29
Today, we return to our study of the faith of Moses. As with all of the previous Old Testament people mentioned before the writer of Hebrews has written about, Moses provides a look at what faith in the God of the Bible looks like. Moses is mentioned 852 times in the Bible. He was one of two who appeared on the mount of transfiguration when Christ was shown to be greater than Moses and Elijah for He was the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets of the Old Testament.
In v.27 of today's passage we read, "By faith he (Moses) forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible."
Moses forsook all the treasures of Egypt because he knew his life was in the hands of the invisible and eternal God. The word "forsook" means a heart renunciation. Just like the disciples who followed the Lord Jesus, Moses refused to have the longings within him met with the temporary things of this world. He came to the place where he noticed the best of this world was not worthy enough to define him. After 40 years on the backside of the desert, shepherding his father's-in-law sheep, Moses came back to Pharaoh’s palace. This was quite a turn around after he tried to give God every reason in the book that he could not do what God was calling him to do.
This transformation came about as the result of being in the desert for forty years alone with God and sheep. During that time alone with God, Moses gained vision by the honing of his faith in the God of the Bible. Biblical faith enables us to develop vision which enables us to endure anything. Faith, or the heart's ability to see God, enables us to see Him more, and therefore, we draw conclusions that most do not. Jim Elliot once said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Self is always lost in the acquisition of vision and that is true freedom.
It was Dennis F. Kinlaw who once said, "Satan disguises submission to himself under the ruse of personal autonomy. The shift in commitment is never from Christ to evil; it is always from Christ to self. And instead of his will, self-interest now rules and what I want reigns. And that is the essence of sin."
Moses biggest enemy was not Satan or Pharaoh, it was trying to satisfy his God-given desires with the wrong things. Moses was not defined by the pleasures of sin which is what tries to convince us that we are the god that we should serve. And, when we partake of sin, we will be more hollow within than we were before. But, when we partake of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Living Water, we discover a reality that most can not see.
So Moses went back to lead his people out of Egypt and he had no army. He had no weapons. And, he faced a proud monarch who reigned over the greatest empire in the world. And everyone in Egypt knew the story of this former prince. They knew he was guilty of murder. Moses had been gone for 40 years, and with the boldness he walked into the presence of Pharaoh and made his demands. Moses told Pharaoh he had better respond or it would not go well for he and his kingdom. And it didn’t take long before the plagues started coming. You see, our opportunity to grow in great faith comes on the heels of being driven to God through our trials in this life. The greater the degree of our pain, the greater the revelation of God to us.
In v.28 of today's passage we read, "By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them."
The last plague was when the angel of death came and killed the firstborn in the houses of those who had no blood applied to their doorposts. Moses applied the blood to his doorpost because God was his definer. He didn’t try to make it on his own. He didn’t try to develop his own strategy. He accepted God’s will and was defined by God. This is what obedience looks like. And, of course, obedience is one of the products of faith.
In v.29 of today's passage we read, "By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned."
Moses was enabled by God to lead as many as two million out of Egypt. This was a stunning act of faith. When the people came to the Red Sea, it looked bleak until God opened the Red Sea and the people walked through it on dry ground. And, that massive miracle came on the heels of the faith of a man who once trusted very little in the God of the Bible, but now had giant size faith. Moses had giant size faith because his trials served his faith in the God of the Bible, well. Biblical faith is armed by God’s word and God's promises and runs right into the raging battle.
After God split the Red Sea, all two million of God's people walked through on dry land. And, when Pharaoh's entire army tried to follow, they were all drowned. The story of Moses is not the story of the Law, it is the story of faith, the type of faith that chooses to follow the plan that the God of the Bible has laid out for us. The type of faith that is bold to move ahead in confidence of the God of the promises. This kind of faith is a gift of God. This is the kind of faith says "no" to sin and says "yes" to this wonderful God who is far from being anything but faithful and trustworthy.
